The High Court of Karnataka on Saturday directed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to submit an affidavit with relevant materials on the responses provided to the observations made in the audit report for 2016–17, and audit remarks as indicated in the previous audit reports.
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A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice S. Sujatha issued the direction during the hearing of a PIL petition, filed in 2015 by Namma Bengaluru Foundation and Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
During the hearing, Senior Counsel Sajjan Poovayya pointed out that audit reports of the BBMP contained several objections for making excess payments and the amount for which audit objection was made has been on the rise from 2011–12 to 2015–16. The audit report raised objections for ₹2,027 crore for 2011–12 and ₹2,640 crore for 2012–13. Similarly, objections for ₹3,416 crore, ₹4,769 crore, and ₹5,269 crore were raised for 2013–14, 2014–15, and 2015–16, respectively. He also pointed out to the court that the BBMP has not maintained the loan register in a proper form, and details of borrowings from nationalised banks and financial institutions, and details of payments made are not mentioned, attested and submitted, and no action was taken to clear the pending audit objections and recoveries made in the previous audit reports.
Further hearing was adjourned till January 30.
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Garbage issue
The Bench, during the hearing of petitions related to garbage related issue, ordered that it would be expected of the BBMP to file a specific affidavit stating the mechanisms evolved for removal and disposal of garbage as also the work done to bring about the optimum levels of daily maintenance and cleanliness in the city of Bengaluru, while adjourning further hearing till January 30.
Earlier, counsel for the BBMP told the Bench that the garbage dumped at designated areas are cleared within 24 hours and dumped garbage is not allowed to pileup beyond 24 hours in all the 198 wards.